Chris Rock

In his live Netflix comedy special over the weekend, Chris Rock finally addressed the Will Smith Oscars slap drama. He told the audience...

He said, "I got parents! A ni**a he know he can beat, that is some bi**h a** sh*t." View this post on Instagram

In "Selective Outrage," comedian Chris Rock speaks for the first time about Will Smith's slap at the Oscars. Netflix earns big buzz with foray into live ...

“From a business perspective, Netflix is likely hoping to attract new subscribers or retain ones at risk of churning in a competitive streaming market,” she says. Expect to see a lot of chatter long after the live show has aired,” Ong says. [more live programming](https://www.forbes.com/sites/tonifitzgerald/2023/01/12/netflix-snags-the-sag-awards-are-sports-the-streamers-next-target/?sh=26ed47e41451) at all the streamers, including Netflix—sports, live events, music, festivals, etc. Online, people dissected Rock’s routine, which built up to addressing the Smith slap and ended once he’d said his piece. which means that the industry's poster child of innovation is actually going back in time to drive appointment viewing.” It drives differentiation, reaches broad audiences, and provides valuable IP [intellectual property] for their libraries,” says Linda Ong, CEO and founder of CULTIQUE, a strategic cultural advisory.

A year after Will Smith slapped him at the Oscars, Rock responded fiercely in a new stand-up special, Netflix's first experiment in live entertainment.

Describing his jokes about Smith’s wife at the ceremony in 2016, he put it bluntly: “She started it. Here, he offers his theory on Will Smith, which is essentially that the slap was an act of displacement, shifting his anger from his wife cheating on him and broadcasting it onto Rock. The way his fury became directed at Pinkett Smith makes you wonder if this was also a kind of displacement. “She hurt him way more than he hurt me,” Rock said, using his considerable powers of description to describe the humiliation of Smith in a manner that seemed designed to do it again. There’s a comic nastiness to Rock’s insults, some of which is studied, but other times appeared to be the product of his own bottled-up anger. But here, he follows one of his most polished and funny jokes, comparing the dating prospects of Jay-Z and Beyoncé if they weren’t stars but worked at Burger King, with a long, sustained section on the Oscars that closes the show. Through a combination of razzle dazzle and Rolodex spinning, the streaming service packaged this special more like a major sporting event than a special, a star-studded warm-up act to the Oscars next week. “And now,” he added, pausing before referencing the new movie in which Smith plays an enslaved man, “I watch ‘Emancipation’ just to see him get whooped.” His jokes about Meghan Markle are very funny, mocking her surprise that the royal family is racist, terming them its originators, the “Sugarhill Gang of racism.” It messed up his momentum, but the trade-off might have been worth it, since the flub added an electric spontaneity and unpredictability that was a drawing card. HBO Max releasing that in the last week was its own counterprogramming. Normally, such an error would have been edited out, but since this was the first live global event in the history of Netflix, Rock could only stop, call attention to it and tell the joke again.

Chris Rock took aim at Meghan Markle during his Netflix comedy special, accusing her of "trying to be a victim."

After the Winfrey episode aired, I was like 'Didn't she hit the light-skin lottery?'" They're the original racists. They invented colonialism," Rock said. "Everybody trying to be a victim," Rock said. In a first for Netflix, the special aired live on the platform.

The comedian has made a bold statement about the Duchess of Sussex.

None of us have ever been interviewed by the person who cheated on us on television,” he said adding, “Why would you do that?” otherwise, unconscious bias then moves into the category of racism.” “Everybody that really knows, knows I had nothing to do with that … I have no idea why two talented people would do something like that. I normally would not talk about this s**t, but for some reason they put it on the internet. the two things are different.

You'll laugh even as you're offended by Chris Rock's live Netflix special 'Selective Outrage.'

Whether or not you buy his theories about how men are, or women are, or what makes a good relationship, or what ails the country, or even accept the premises from which he draws his conclusions, and whether or not this was his finest hour (and eight minutes) of television, Rock remains worth listening to, because there’s nothing casual about what he does, and most important, he knows how to craft and sell a joke. Where “Tamborine” found the comic in a relatively intimate setting with the audience nearly at his feet, engaging in a more modulated, reflective style of delivery, “Selective Outrage” came across as a rough-edged bid to regain old fire; he pumped up the volume, prowled the stage, charging his text with repeated words and phrases like a revival preacher, both to hammer out a point and to make music. When Rock finally got to the Slap, in the special’s last minutes, he certainly leaned into it. And as in a sporting event, there was an element of unpredictability to “Selective Outrage,” even of danger, the possibility that the comedian would have to be carried off the field, figuratively speaking. Some of his targets were strangely inessential: Going after Meghan Markle for not understanding that she’d encounter racism among the royal family, felt mean and like a waste of breath, and the Kardashians, even if super-glued into popular culture, are the day before yesterday’s news. This is Rock’s sixth special, and that the previous five were produced in the usual manner has proved no impediment to his career.

The comedian is tired of talking about Will Smith's infamous Oscars slap, but he wants to make one thing clear: It hurt.

Because I was raised!" "I got parents! I got 'Summertime' ringing in my ears," Rock said, referring to Smith's 1991 single. "We've all been cheated on, everybody in here been cheated on, none of us have ever been interviewed by the person that cheated on us on television," Rock joked. In a nod to the show's title, Rock said he believes Smith practises "selective outrage" and that the slap had more to do with Smith and his wife, Jada's, relationship struggles, than his Oscars joke. "I'm going to try to do the show without offending anyone," Rock said, in a nod to the Smith altercation.

He has alleged that the actress' infidelity was the cause of Will Smith's outburst.

None of us have ever been interviewed by the person who cheated on us on television,” he said adding, “Why would you do that?” “So, I did some jokes about it,” he said adding, “That’s how it is. My behaviour was unacceptable, and I’m here whenever you’re ready to talk.” “Everybody that really knows, knows I had nothing to do with that … I’ve reached out to Chris and the message that came back is that he’s not ready to talk, and when he is he will reach out. I normally would not talk about this s**t, but for some reason they put it on the internet. “A lot of people are like, did it hurt? I have no idea why two talented people would do something like that. “I’m gonna try to do a show tonight without offending … “Y’all know what happened to me, getting smacked by (Will) Smith. You’ll never see me do a movie with my shirt off.” This guy does movies with his shirt off.

Rock accused Smith of "practising selective outrage" and mocked the infidelity rumours surrounding Smith and his wife Jada Pinkett Smith.

He said: "I did some jokes about her. "I love Will Smith… Repeatedly branding the star a "b****", he quipped: "Everybody. Me, a n**** he knows he can beat. "We all been cheated on. Everybody that really knows knows I had nothing to do with that s***.

In a comedy special, Chris Rock jokingly said he enjoyed seeing Will Smith beaten in his latest film.

"Even black people want to know how brown the baby's going to be!"

Almost a year later, Chris Rock is still seething about 'The Slap' and he told an audience how much he now despises Will and Jada Pinkett Smith.

I also loved his observation that the January 6, riots were "white men trying to overthrow the government...that they (already) run." Parts of the special seemed calibrated to tweak stereotypically liberal sensibilities, with Rock insisting, "Anybody that says 'Words hurt,' has never been punched in the face." For an hour, Rock held forth on an array of topics, some of which felt like they could have come from a special years ago – including jokes about the Kardashians, O.J. It was a dramatic end to a standup special that often felt less groundbreaking than the hype surrounding it suggested. On why the power of women's beauty gives them dominance over men: "Beyonce is so fine, that if she worked at Burger King, she could still marry Jay-Z. "I'm not a victim, baby...you will never see me on Oprah or Gayle crying," the comic said. One reason Smith may have been able to rebuild his image somewhat, is because Rock wasn't speaking publicly about the incident — so the guy who was slapped wasn't giving his perspective. "It still hurts." Eventually, he got the punchline out: "She said a grown a-- man should quit his job because [her husband] didn't get nominated for Concussion. Rock also said he was once a huge fan of Smith's, but the slap had him watching the actor's movies, like his Civil War-era drama Emancipation, much differently. A n---- he knows he can beat [up]." "They called his wife a predator...And who's he hit?

Chris Rock slammed businesses for attempting to embrace woke culture in his new Netflix special 'Selective Outrage.' See what he said about Lululemon and ...

Rock's reported [net worth is about $60 million](https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-celebrities/richest-comedians/chris-rock-net-worth/). Me." [poor](https://ew.com/tv/chris-rock-daughter-kicked-out-school-selective-outrage/)." To illustrate his point, he called out people typing their criticism tweets "on a phone made by child[ren]." Now, if somebody wants your job, they just wait for you to say some dumb s**t," he said within the first couple minutes of his set. [Hollywood Reporter](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/chris-rock-sets-netflix-stand-938106/).

A year after Will Smith smacked him on the Academy Awards stage, Chris Rock finally gave his rebuttal in a forceful stand-up special, streamed live on ...

“You’ve got to give it to the tech companies for inventing something that existed for decades,” said Chieng. He added that he was “still kind of processing what happened.” Rock said the reason why he didn’t physically retaliate at the Oscars was because “I got parents.” “I did not have any entanglements,” said Rock. “How was your weekend?” he asked the crowd. Netflix added pre- and post-show bookends of star-studded live programming with, as host comedian Ronny Chieng said, “every comedy legend who owes Netflix a favor.” Bono lent a opening introduction. The comedian on Saturday referenced Pinkett Smith’s earlier confessions of having an “entanglement” with another man while married. This guy does movies with my shirt off,” said Rock. I got `Summertime’ ringing in my ears.” If I’m in a movie getting open-heart surgery, I got on a sweater.” Everybody knows,” Rock said. Only occasionally did Rock’s material dovetail with the 2022 Oscars, like it did when Rock joked about the oddity of Snoop Dogg becoming such a venerated pitch man for advertisers.

Chris Rock at the Hippodrome Theater in Baltimore. The problem with “Selective Outrage,” Chris Rock's new Netflix special, is that much of the material feels ...

The problem with the new special is that much of the material feels like mere pretense, a half-thought prelude to the evening’s main draw, which has been strategically left for the end—the better to retain a rubbernecking viewership. Meanwhile, a white C student just happens to be the President of the United States.” From “Selective Outrage”: “Beyoncé is so fine that if she worked at Burger King she could still marry Jay-Z. The weakness of “Selective Outrage” lies not just in the spectre of obsolescence that looms over certain aging comedians these days. Dating women “his age”—that is, women at least a decade younger than his fifty-eight years, he clarifies—takes maintenance. Gushing about his new job, a friend tells Rock that he feels “seen” and “heard.” Rock scrunches his face. He takes us on a tour of the topical—more (Ukraine, Elon Musk) and less so (Caitlyn Jenner, the attention economy)—and the eternal (miscegenation, O. What, you think I’m wearing a wire or some shit?’ ” Rock smirks at the anti-hate signposting of an upscale brand like Lululemon: “They sell hundred-dollar yoga pants. He had the assistance of guests such as Arsenio Hall and [Leslie Jones](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/09/27/glam-room-dish-with-leslie-jones), who were there, as Chieng said, to “emphasize how live we are right now” and to rain hosannas on Rock—“You are the shit,” Jones said. Somebody else does the exact same thing: nothing.” The “N” lands with a guttural thud. His last special, “ [Tamborine](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/watching-chris-rock-and-america-fumble-toward-transformation),” also released by Netflix, came out in 2018, and besides a starring turn in the fourth season of Fargo it’s been a minute since we’ve seen him on the proverbial marquee. “You never know who might get triggered.” Yeah, yeah, sure, “words hurt,” he parrots, but—“anybody that says ‘Words hurt’ has never been punched in the face.” Here is his first coy reference to we-all-know-what. First, “Selective Outrage” has a thesis, which Rock puts forth early on in the set.

The streamer's first ever live comedy special saw the star cover everything from Meghan Markle to the infamous slap.

Some of Rock’s best lines verge on the absurd, like the explanation that Elon Musk only “looks so weird” because he’s received so much fellatio that “his body has negative cum”. He was unmoved by her “complaining” in the Oprah interview, his rationale that she shouldn’t be so shocked by the prejudices of the royal family, “the Sugarhill Gang of racism”. While shouting “Daddy got titties!” about Caitlyn Jenner isn’t quite the truth-to-power insight that gets Rock in top form – and the line about preferring trans women to “original recipe” in some circumstances, oy – most of this run makes transphobes the butt of the joke. As a Black multimillionaire, as a middle-aged divorcee and especially as the recent recipient of a globally televised slap courtesy of Will Smith, he possesses a perspective in flux that imbues each check-in with an unpredictable live-wire energy teased by the ads touting the lack of a “bleep button”. Where SNL has the informal atmosphere of a boozy party with friends as likely to crack up at their own antics as you are, Rock’s Baltimore set is by its nature a sit-and-listen affair. This mission to subsume all entertainment in existence under the big red N has now led the upstart studio to train its crosshairs on the meaty legacy target of Saturday Night Live.

In a new Netflix special, the comedian finally let loose about Will Smith. The moment was fascinating, angry, and raw.

Directed by Bo Burnham and filmed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, it was introspective and intimate, delving into the dissolution of his marriage and his mistakes as a partner. A whole segment about the Kardashians felt a little warmed-over, while an incredulous run about Meghan Markle’s professed surprise at the institutional racism of British monarchy was far funnier and more inventive (he pronounced the royals the “Sugarhill Gang of racism”). [get to the fireworks factory](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/get_to_the_fireworks_factory#:~:text=(fandom%20slang%2C%20idiomatic)%20To,important%20part%20of%20a%20storyline.),” to quote a memorable Simpsons line. At one point, he fumbled a line, naming the wrong Smith movie (Emancipation) for a joke that was centered on another (Concussion). Indeed, the most fascinating aspect of Rock’s new special, Selective Outrage, was the fact that it aired live on Netflix Saturday night—an attempt to tap into the immediacy of onstage comedy in a time when audiences can choose their evening’s entertainment from a hefty menu. [bizarre interviews](https://variety.com/2020/tv/news/jada-pinkett-august-alsina-affair-red-table-talk-1234703531/) that Smith and his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, did about their relationship in the years before Smith’s Oscar win.

One year after the infamous Oscars slap, Chris Rock finally hit back at Will Smith during his livestreamed Netflix standup special, 'Chris Rock: Selective ...

It’s so hard, it’s very hard — but it ain’t as hard as a white girl trying to be accepted by her Black in-laws.” Rock claimed that everyone nowadays, including Markle, is “trying to be the victim,” even when they are not. “Black girl trying to be accepted by her white in-laws,” Rock said. Kris Jenner is like the Statue of Liberty.” If I’m in a movie getting open-heart surgery, I got on a sweater.” I got Summertime ringing in my ears.” (The song Summertime was released by Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff in 1991.) Smith shouted for Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your f–-ing mouth!” “I’m going to try my best, because you never know who might get triggered,” he joked. [pleaded no contest](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/suge-knight-a-timeline-his-768773/) to armed robbery and assault with a firearm in 1995. In the profanity-laden segment, Rock said he’d always admired Smith before being slapped. The actor was [banned from the Academy Awards](https://globalnews.ca/news/8746647/will-smith-oscar-ban-10-years/) for 10 years. During last year’s Oscars ceremony in March, Rock was slapped by Smith after he made a G.I.

Will Smith still hopes to repair his relationship with Chris Rock, a close source revealed to People. It's been a year since the infamous slap at the 94th ...

The comedian then proceeded to call Will a “b****” repeatedly. He then jested: “Everybody. Now, Rock has addressed Smith’s public assault in his [ live-streamed Netflix special Chris Rock: Selective Outrage](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/year-after-the-slap-chris-rock-punches-back-in-new-special/UXHZHUHN6RG53N526JRS4MGH3M/?ref=readmore) on Saturday, affirming to his audience that he “is not a victim”. Me, a n***** he knows he can beat. “Will Smith practices selective outrage,” Rock claimed at his stand-up gig. The source claims, “It all has helped him look inside and mature. He is better but still remorseful.” And who’s he hit? Rock said in the stand-up comedy show that “everybody in the world” called Smith a “bitch” following the “entanglement” revelation, adding that he attempted to reach out to the actor but was not met with a response. I didn’t have any ‘entanglements.’ " “Will listened to those who tried to help him and feels that he has become a better person,” the source added. “He’s tried unsuccessfully to make amends in the best way he could with Chris”.